Mt Rushmore for your state

[Yellow_Medal 225]

CO:

Ben Cherrington

Tom Clum

Tyler Graff

Connor Medbery

Adeline Gray

Dean Lahr

I'm sure I'm forgetting many. We've had so many 4x state champs now https://chsaanow.com/sports/wrestling/four-timers/ that I've lost track. 

[GoNotQuietly 1,175]

On 6/27/2019 at 9:44 AM, tbert said:

New York must be pretty deep in international style if an Olympic champ is left off.

I considered Jeff, he was a great man from my hometown, and a coaching mentor and friend of mine after i graduated from college.  Phenomenal personality and sense of humor, and genuinely cared tremendously for athletes he coached.  I won't argue with putting him on, though it's probably best to give the Greco guys their own Mt. since we have plenty of them in the Adirondacks, and you can't just ignore the asterisk of a Karelin-less Olympic gold medal.

[KTG119 820]

33 minutes ago, GoNotQuietly said:

I considered Jeff, he was a great man from my hometown, and a coaching mentor and friend of mine after i graduated from college.  Phenomenal personality and sense of humor, and genuinely cared tremendously for athletes he coached.  I won't argue with putting him on, though it's probably best to give the Greco guys their own Mt. since we have plenty of them in the Adirondacks, and you can't just ignore the asterisk of a Karelin-less Olympic gold medal.

Was Karelin on the senior scene in ‘84?

[GoNotQuietly 1,175]

25 minutes ago, KTG119 said:

Was Karelin on the senior scene in ‘84?

Opps, you're right, but Soviets did win in the Worlds before and after that year, and the Olympics before and after that cycle.  Didn't realize they also won every team title between 1952 and 1996 when they were represented...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_and_Olympic_Champions_in_Greco-Roman_wrestling#1969–1996

 

[tbert 563]

1 hour ago, GoNotQuietly said:

I considered Jeff, he was a great man from my hometown, and a coaching mentor and friend of mine after i graduated from college.  Phenomenal personality and sense of humor, and genuinely cared tremendously for athletes he coached.  I won't argue with putting him on, though it's probably best to give the Greco guys their own Mt. since we have plenty of them in the Adirondacks, and you can't just ignore the asterisk of a Karelin-less Olympic gold medal.

I get it,  but since this was posted on international forum, Blatnick has made an Olympic team.  Cant say that about the others.

[KTG119 820]

57 minutes ago, GoNotQuietly said:

Opps, you're right, but Soviets did win in the Worlds before and after that year, and the Olympics before and after that cycle.  Didn't realize they also won every team title between 1952 and 1996 when they were represented...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_and_Olympic_Champions_in_Greco-Roman_wrestling#1969–1996

 

Yep Blatnik def benefitted from the Soviet led boycott, even with Karelin being a few years away. 

Blatnik wrestled a great tournament though, and was a great story during those Games. Led the US group in closing ceremonies iirc. 

[GockeS 549]

On 6/24/2019 at 3:31 PM, qc8223 said:

Gilman won 4 titles at Skutt right? Does he not count because he's technically from Iowa?

yeah, he should be an iowa candidate.

[GockeS 549]

On 6/24/2019 at 6:53 PM, Husker_Du said:

Brester should be in the mix for NEB too imo.

YES, i knew i was forgetting someone.

AND

he and vering are both from Howells.

[CA_Wrestler 336]

18 hours ago, Yellow_Medal said:

CO:

I'm sure I'm forgetting many. We've had so many 4x state champs now https://chsaanow.com/sports/wrestling/four-timers/ that I've lost track. 

Is that really a good thing?

[pamela 1,334]

On 6/29/2019 at 1:17 PM, yonz_g said:

Greg Gibson? Olympic Silver in Greco, 3x World Medalist in Freestyle.

Thank you!

[leshismore 216]

NEW YORK

Dan Hunt was the first-ever three-time state wrestling champion

Jesse Jantzen was the first-ever four-time state wrestling champion
Troy Nickerson was the first-ever five-time state wrestling champion
Kyle Dake-4X NCAA Champion, World Champion 

[Icemeister 24]

On 6/30/2019 at 10:32 AM, Yellow_Medal said:

CO:

Ben Cherrington

Tom Clum

Tyler Graff

Connor Medbery

Adeline Gray

Dean Lahr

I'm sure I'm forgetting many. We've had so many 4x state champs now https://chsaanow.com/sports/wrestling/four-timers/ that I've lost track. 

It remains to be seen how his career plays out, but Cohlton Schultz may need to be added to that list.  Certainly his accomplisments during high school are more impressive than anyone else's on the list.  Ryan Deakin may eventually deserve some consideration, too.  Also, I know that Arizona (and apparently California) claim Henry Cejudo, but Cejudo did graduate from high school in Colorado, where he won his last two high school state campionships.  So perhaps he makes the list, too?

[scribe 1,845]

Lou and Ed Banach, Kyle Dake, and me. New York State 

[Yellow_Medal 225]

Is that really a good thing?

I would say no. It means we have too many classifications.

[Yellow_Medal 225]

It remains to be seen how his career plays out, but Cohlton Schultz may need to be added to that list.  Certainly his accomplisments during high school are more impressive than anyone else's on the list.  Ryan Deakin may eventually deserve some consideration, too.  Also, I know that Arizona (and apparently California) claim Henry Cejudo, but Cejudo did graduate from high school in Colorado, where he won his last two high school state campionships.  So perhaps he makes the list, too?

I considered adding Cohlton. I would not necessarily disagree if you did.
I also thought about Cejudo but I’ve seen that conversation play out before and wanted to avoid it.

[fanta 49]

Pennsylvannia's last Olympic Champion from 1996

* Kurt Angle, needs to be in the mix somewhere.

 

 

13 hours ago, Yellow_Medal said:

I considered adding Cohlton. I would not necessarily disagree if you did.
I also thought about Cejudo but I’ve seen that conversation play out before and wanted to avoid it.

Not counting Cejudo...because you would have to throw in Kamal Bey, Kyle Snyder, and others that have moved to Colorado for the Olympic Training Center.

 

Who was Colorado's last person on the Men's Olympic Wrestling Team?

 

•  

Edited July 2, 2019 by fanta

[Coach_J 2,188]

Man, gotta blow up my previous Michigan list--what a dope.  Kevin Jackson in, TRICIA SAUNDERS in, Zeke Jones in.  Last spot between Metzger, Churella, Fraser, Johnson.  If international outweighs national, then Metzger and Fraser vie for the last spot.

[Yellow_Medal 225]

9 hours ago, fanta said:

Pennsylvannia's last Olympic Champion from 1996

* Kurt Angle, needs to be in the mix somewhere.

 

 

Not counting Cejudo...because you would have to throw in Kamal Bey, Kyle Snyder, and others that have moved to Colorado for the Olympic Training Center.

 

Who was Colorado's last person on the Men's Olympic Wrestling Team?

 

•  

This is the exact conversation about Cejudo I wanted to avoid, hence why I didn't include him on my list...

To my knowledge, we haven't had any Olympians on the men's freestyle side, though there very well could be some I'm overlooking. The aforementioned Dean Lahr placed 4th at worlds in 1963, but I'm not sure about other world medalists. 

[hbluejr 15]

On 6/25/2019 at 10:55 AM, Ari Gold said:

 

Ward vs. Chiapparelli is not a toss-up at all. Frankly, it’s not even close.

Ward had a 91% college win percentage (126-10-2) while Chiapparelli’s was 84% (111-21), with more than 2x as many losses as Ward. Over half of Ward’s losses were to an all-timer in Lee Kemp (and one of his ties too). 3x finalist vs 1x finalist. Ward was also undefeated in High School (90-0).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Kelly Ward was certainly the more accomplished NCAA wrestler, but Chiapparelli's freestyle credentials, in my opinion, make this a worthy debate.

Ward does seem to be a underappreciated all the same.  After losing to Lee Kemp in the NCAA finals in 1977, he began to close the gap his junior year (Kemp's senior year).  In the Iowa State-Wisconsin dual, Ward became Kemp's only non-win on his record after his true freshman year as they tied 5-5 in the dual.  In a truly great NCAA Final that year, Kemp ran up an 8-0 lead entering the 3rd and Ward stormed back to lose 10-8.  Highlights from that match can be viewed below.  Ward of course would win next year's title after Kemp graduated.

That said, Chiapparelli's overall wrestling career is really incomplete without considering his freestyle accolades.  Aside from winning every major high school national tournament and winning an NCAA title, he was also a Junior World Silver Medalist and he earned a number of wins against some of our most elite senior level athletes.  He beat Mark Schultz in the 1988 US Open and would lose to him 2 matches to 1 in the Olympic Trials Finals (these matches were partially depicted in Foxcatcher). That same year he would defeat future World gold medalist Lukman Jabrailov in the famed USA vs. USSR Fiesta Bowl Dual (the John Smith-led US team won against a stout Soviet squad).  The next year as the US World Cup rep he would earn gold over former World Champ Raul Cascaret (Cuba) and former World Bronze Vorobiev (USSR).  Chiapparelli never made a World or Olympic team, but was competing in an extremely competitive era and weight against not only Schultz (3x gold), but also Kevin Jackson (3x gold), Melvin Douglas (4x medalist, 1x gold), and Royce Alger (1x silver).  After retiring for four years (which he spent modelling in Paris of all things according to an interview in the Spoken spokesman) he even came back to the sport to place 4th in the 1996 US Open.

Perhaps more than anything, though, Chiapparelli's wrestling style was innovative and far ahead of it's time-- pure funk long before it became a mainstream part of the sport-- and this made his every match 'must see' for wrestling fans at the time.  And he was deadly too, owning pins over the likes of Kevin Jackson and Melvin Douglas, and I'm sure many other top tier competitors.  Finally, one could also consider his contributions to bridging the worlds of wrestling and MMA as he formed the RAW team that helped usher the likes of Randy Couture, Dan Henderson, Frank Trigg, and other World Team-calibre wrestlers into MMA.

It all comes to criteria, but while Ward is an underappreciated collegiate great, largely due to his overlap with the near unmatched overall greatness of Lee Kemp (who would be on my USA Rushmore) and his lack of a post-collegiate freestyle career, Chiapparelli's freestyle accomplishments and wins, his innovative and dangerous style, and his pioneering work with wrestlers in MMA make him a worthy potential inclusion on a Maryland Rushmore, in my opinion at least.

 

[Icemeister 24]

On 7/2/2019 at 8:55 AM, fanta said:

Not counting Cejudo...because you would have to throw in Kamal Bey, Kyle Snyder, and others that have moved to Colorado for the Olympic Training Center.

 

Except Cejudo actually competed as a high school wrestler there, winning Colorado high school state championships his junior and senior years.  That isn’t the case for the others you mentioned .  Agree, though, that he is primarily a transplant and probably shouldn't be on Colorado's list.

Edited July 3, 2019 by Icemeister